Typographical font



H. G. GovlL 2,074,216-

TYPOGRAPHICAL FONT 7.1. rr E E 565758596061612 y '5 9 zo 2| 2z 25 2*521621,38 29 Wega@ f megs March 16, 1937. H. G, GOV|| 2,074,216

TYPOGRAPHICAL FONT Filed April 7, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 agg 27a/Ig. 3.

.B14 E21 l a1 fag@ Patented Mar. 16, 1937 TYPOGRAPHICAL FONT Hari G.Govil, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, acorporation of New York Application April 7, 1933, Serial No. 664,862

29 Claims.

This invention relates to typographical fonts, such as the matrixfontsemployedin commercial linotyper machines for theproduction of printingslugs, and contemplates improvements which Will enable these machines tobe'used more readily, if not for the rst time, in Yconnection with thevarious languages printedin Devanagari script.

, As showing the necessity for and importance of the` present invention,it may be rstated that Devanagari script is used or Writing or printingnot only Hindustani but also Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, J aina, Sindhi,Rejasthani, Behari, Gujarati and Bengali, With certain modifications `inthe L styles of certain characters of the respective languages.Devanagari is the major script of Hindustani, which is the great linguafranca of modern India, being used by more than one hundred millionpeople. Also, as the national script of India, Devanagari is most Widelyused in business, literature, 'journalism, and general communication.And here it may be stated that the system forming the subject oi theinvention, and as hereinafter'described, applies also to allother 25 tothe Devanagari alphabet, `such as Siamese,

Tibetan, Singhalese, Burmese, and also the Dravidian langauges such asTamil, Telugu, Kanarese, etc.

As is Well known, printing in the foregoing languages has heretoforerequired from 700 to 2,000 printing characters, all of which arenecessary and are now used in hand composition for the proper andcomplete printed expression of the,Y

i different languages. This number of characters of matter on theregular linotype machines, and it is, therefore, the prime object of thepresent invention to reduce thenumber of characters in such manner andto such extent that the existing linotype machines may be adapted totherequirements of the l'anguagesin question.

Briefly stated, the invention-consists in providing a matrix font whoseindividual elements are formed With incomplete and non-indicative char-45` acters, that is to say, characters which standing alone have nomeaning, or at best are semiindicative inl nature. 'Ihese matrixelements are so designed that they can be joined laterally with oneanother to vproduce complete indicative char- 50 'acters, and characterswhich are either identical with or closely resemble the characters asnow Written in the Devanagari script as produced by hand set type.

For a readier understanding of the invention thematrix font is hereinshown and described as divided into a plurality of groups, this grouparrangement being such that the matrix elements of the various groupsmay be variously combined `to produce the full number of completecharac- 60 ters asV generally required for the hand composialphabetsderived from or allied with4 or similar is` entirely too large for thepractical composition (C1. Teef-66) tion of Devanagari script. The exactnature and extent of these various combinations Will best be understoodfrom the drawings and the detailed description to follow. It may benoted here, however, that the total number of individual charac- 5 tersmade use of in carrying out this invention is 216, even including thosecharacters which are complete in themselves and have not been modifiedin structure. In handling this number of characters in a linotypemachine, it is proposed to run 124 of them in the channeled magazine andto providefor their release by the employment of a keyboard. 'I'heremaining 92 characters (which are the ones less frequently used) willbe carried as pi and composed in line by hand.

It may be explained that in selecting for the matrix font the matricesdesigned to form the incomplete printing elements, those matrices havebeen chosen Whose character parts occur most frequently in theDevanagari script and which lend themselves most readily to theformation of the greatest number of combined complete indicativeprinting elements.

It may also be noted that vocalic and consonantal characters or partsthereof frequently usedl in combination are sometimes compressed orotherwise slightly modied so that they also can be set separately and incombination with other Y parts of characters to form a variety ofcomplete indicative characters, and this Without altering theirsignicance or legibility in the complete indicative character. Forexample, the slanting line of part of a character can be formed morenearly perpendicular so that it will not project under or above theother member with Which it is combined.

In applying the invention to a matrix font for a linotype machine, itmust be borne in mind that the characters of the Devanagari script areasso-- ciated with a horizontal line. Therefore, the matrix is made Withan intaglio impression properly located in itsV operative edge so as toform th-e printing element cast therefrom with a line extending entirelyacross its upper face and which line can be joined With a similar lineon adjacent printing ,elements toform a continuous line with which thescript characters can be associated.

The matrix is further constructed With intaglio impressions designed toproduce a part or parts of characters so that, when the printing elementformed therefrom is united laterally in horizontal alinement Withanother or other incomplete printing element or elements, that is tosay, f

printing elements bearing only parts of characters, the assembledprinting elements so alined Will be united to produce a completeindicative printed character, i. e., a character having meaning.

Sometimes the intaglio impressions forming the parts of the printingcharacters will be open 60 at both sides of the matrix, and in othercases on one side, and in yet other cases on neither side, but allconforming with the outline of the part of the character which it isdesired to cast. It will be obvious that, within the limits of the slugto be cast, as many matrices may be arranged in horizontal alinement asare required to form any particular character.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows all of the characters of the new font;

Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 show how different individual characters arejoined Ylaterally in producing complete indicative characters;

Fig. 7 shows in perspective thecharacter bearing portions of threedilerent matrix elements such as are used for producing the completecomposite character shown inrFig. 4;

Fig. 8 is an edge View of the three complete matrix elements of Fig. '7,showing these elements composed in line side by side and ready for thecasting operation; and

Fig. 9 is a face view of one of the matrix elements.

In Fig. 1, the various characters comprising the new font are shown asarranged in seven groups designated A, B, C, D, E, F, and G,respectively, the characters in each group being numbered consecutively.The characters comprising Group A are those used as initials only,

-that is to say, those characters which form the rst or initial part ofa complete composite character. The characters comprising Group B arethose used either as initials or medials. When used as medials, thecharacters, as the word irnplete in themselves, but which are such thatthey can be and are combined with certain incomplete characters oi thepreceding groups to produce different complete composite characters. 'Iothe extent that the characters of this vgroup can be used alone ascomplete characters, no novelty Cil is asserted for them in a structuresense. In use, the characters of Group F (like those of Group B) may beeither initials or medials. The characters comprising Group G arecomplete in themselves, and consist mainly of symbols used in printing,such as punctuation marks, and so on. These characters have been shownprimarily in order to complete the whole font.

Referring to all or the characters of Fig. l,

.. they may be classified generally as follows: The

characters constituting Groups A, B, C, D, and E are not onlyincomplete, but are non-indicative, meaning by non-indicative (as beforestated) that the characters when standing alone have no signicance,"orat best are semi-indicative in nature. The characters constituting GroupF, while incomplete, may be said to be indicative, meaning by indicativethat the characters when standing alone would or could havesigniiicance.

The characters constituting Group G are both complete and indicative anddo not therefore enter into the present invention.A The invention isconcerned only with Groups A, B, C, D, E, and F, the characters of thesegroups being usable interchangeably or in diiferent combinations toproduce various complete indicative characters of undistorted orthodoxform. In other words, complete indicative characters are produced bydifferent combinations of incomplete non-indicative characters withincomplete non-indicative characters, or by diiferent combinations ofincomplete indicative characters with incomplete non-indi cativecharacters, or by both kinds of combinations, depending upon the natureof the individual complete indicative characters to be produced.

As before stated, the invention contemplates the lateral joining ofvarious characters of the different groups for the production ofcomplete indicative characters. In some instances, only two characterswill be usedin producing a complete composite character, while in otherinstances three separate characters will be needed to make up a completecomposite character. Illustrations are given in Figs. 2 to 6 which willbe described in kgreater detail later on.

While one skilled in the art would undoubtedly be able to understand thevarious possible combinations of characters from the showing in Fig. 1,it might be helpful to set forth in tabulated form a considerable numberof the possible combinations, and the following table will answer thatpurpose. In this table, the characters are referred to by the groupdesignation and by the numbers allotted to them in their respectivegroups.

A-l to 4-1-13-1 to 3-l-E--35 (see Fig. 2) A--l t 4-l-B--1 to 39-l-E-20A--l to l-l-B-18 t0 24-i-D-1 to 3 A-l to 4-l-B-11 to 13,18-l-C--1-i-E-20 As-i 1:0 4+B-13 to 20+c-4JFE-2o A-l to l-l-F-l to44-i-C-3-i-E-2O B-l to 26-l-F-1 to 11+E-36 to 56 (see Fig. 6) B-l to26+F-45 to 63-l-E-53 to 62 F-l to 44+E--36, 56

To those not familiar with Devanagari script, it may aid in anunderstanding of the invention to give transliterations (as appliedparticularly to Sanskrit and Hindi) of the complete indicativecharacters represented by some of the combinations set forth in theforegoing table. Following the same scheme of referring to thecharacters by group designation and numbers, the transliterations are asfollows:

The transliterations for the consonants vk, ph, p, g. gr, t, rt, ry, r,hy are given in the alternative (v or va, k or ka, etc.) because thevowel short a is understood unless the consonantI carries some othervowel and (or) like symbol, or is combined with another consonant, or ismarked by the virama,` indicating that no vowel follows.

As before stated, Figs. 2 to 6 show diierent combinations of theindividual characters. Thus, in Fig. 2, there is shown reading from lefttoright four characters: the first character marked A-i is characterNo'. 1 of Group A; the second character marked B--3 is No. 3 of` GroupB; and the third character marked E-35 is No. 35 of Group E. The fourthcharacter marked a is the complete indicative character which is formedby the lateral joining of the other three incomplete nonindicativecharacters. In Figs. 3, 4, 5, and V6 the characters marked al, a2, a3,and a4 are the complete indicative characters formed by the lateraljoining of the individual characters .at the left, the latter charactersbeing marked with the group designation and number like the incompletecharacters of Fig. 2. Transliterated, the characters a, al, a2, a3, anda4, are, respectively, ji (pronounced with a foreign sound), ce, 1 (aWhole independent vowelwritten only when standing alone or at thebeginning of a word), sti, nd.

For the sake of clearness, in the foregoing description and in thefigures of the drawings to which reference has been made, only thecharacters as they appear in print have been dealt with, but it willhave been understood that in use the characters will be carried bytypographical y bodies or elements such as before referred to.

As the present invention has been developed with.

the requirements of the linotype machine in mind, the element hereinillustrated by way of with projecting ears X1 and at the top with'disytributing teeth X2, whereby it is adapted to be circulated through thelinotype machine in the regular way. In its mold engaging edge, eachmatrix is formed with a notch or routing X3 containing at its bottom adepression or cavity X4 constituting the character of the matrix. Inthis.v instance, then, the character is of intaglio form, consisting ofa depression or cavity wherein is cast the type character from which theprint is to be made. In the operation of the linotype machine, thesematrices are first assembled side by side in line (as in Fig. 8), andthen presentedk as a whole to a slotted mold for the casting of anintegral bar or slug bearing on one edge the complete line of typecharacters formed in the cavities X4 of the matrices, all as wellunderstood in the art.

Since a complete indicative type character is made up from two or moreincomplete non-indicative characters, the matrices are, of course,formed with cavities suitable for castingfthe incomplete typecharacters. In other words, it will be understood that in setting up aline of matrices for producing'a line of type, two or more individualmatrices will be assembled side by side in line for the production ofone complete type character. This is clearly indicated in Fig. 8, whichshows three of the matrices assembled side by side, and which willproduce an integral complete type character such as that marked a2 `inFig. 4. In Fig. 7, the character bearing portions of these particularmatrices are shown in enlarged perspective in order to bring out theactual structure of the matrix cavities. In the instance given, it willbe noted that the cavities of all three matrices are arranged tocommunicate in order to produce the straight horizontal linecharacteristic of the Devanagari script. Here itmay be explained thatthese portions of matrix cavities, since they extend entirely throughYthe matrix bodies from one side to the other, will be closed byadjoining matrices or blanks or spacebands,

the latter elements being those marked Y and Z in Fig. 8. In theinstance given, other portions of the cavities of the matrices are alsoarranged to extend through the side walls'of the matrix bodies, theseportions being those which form the two stern portions of the completecharacter. The matrices for the other characters will present similarand different peculiarities depending upon the characters themselves.

While the present invention and improvements have been designedespecially to meet the require-- ments of the linotype machine, itwillbe apparent that they are equally applicable to other kinds of machines,such as type setters which employ or type dies. As a matter of fact, theinvention is also applicable to hand set type, and to any other forms oftypographical elements which may be maniplated to make up completeindicative characters from incomplete non-indicative characters. Itshould be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited toany specific adaptation or embodiment, except insofar as suchlimitations are specified in the claims.

Speaking generally, it may perhaps be said that the present inventioninvolves the feature of making up a complete character by joining andstill others within the body limits different parts of that character.Such a scheme has heretofore been employed Vin connection with Englishcharacters (see for example Patent No. 1,115,274, dated October 27,1914) The purpose and effect of the present invention are vastlydifferent from the purpose and eiect of the prior patented invention. Inthe patent, the scheme involves a multiplication of the individualmatrix elements which carry the fractional characters, since each letterrequires at least two diierent parts. The present invention, on theother hand, reduces the number of characters by the system shown anddescribed by which the various incomplete non-indicative characters canbe variously combined in producing the complete indicative characters.In other words, the incomplete non-indicative characters are not limitedto the production of a single complete character, but they can bevariously combined to produce an almost innite number of completecharacters as clearly indicated by the table set out in an earlier partof the specication.

Devanagari, like many other Oriental scripts, such as Arabic, Syriac,Hebrew, etc., comprises vowels as well as consonants and these vowelstake the form of signs or symbols associated with the consonantcharacters, the vowel signs or symbols sometimes appearing above orbelow or within the body limits of the consonant characters. In thisconnection it should be noted that the incomplete non-indicativecharacters comprising Groups A, B, C, D, and E in the chart of Fig. lare intended to be combined in making up complete indicative characterswhether they be consonants alone or consonants with vowel signs. Thus,as will be obvious to anyone familiar with Devanagari script, many ofthe incomplete nonindicative characters of Group E differ from eachother only in respect to the vowel signs which they carry, see forexample the characters numbered 2, 3, 5, 6, Il, 9, II, I2, I4, I5, I5,Il, I8, I9 of this group, it appearing from these designated charactersthat the vowel signs of some appear below the character, others abovethe character, of the character. To give specic examples, thecombination of character No. 2 in Group B with character No. 2 in GroupE produces a complete composite character pronounced gu; whereas thecombination of character No. 2 of Group B with character No. 3 of GroupE produces a complete composite character pronounced gu. Similarly thecombination of character No. I2 of Group B with character No. 2 of GroupE produces a complete composite character pronounced nu; whereas thecombination of character No. I2 of Group B with character No. S of GroupE produces a complete composite character pronounced nu And so it iswith various other combinations of characters. See for example thecomplete composite character a2 of Fig. 4 produced by the combination ofcharacter No. 24 of Group B, character No. 2 of Group C, and characterNo. 5 of Group E, the latter being a vowel carrying character. 'I'hetable hereinbefore set out gives a multitude of possible combinationsand includes, of course, characters with as weil as characters withoutthe vowel signs.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is as follows:

1. A typographical font comprising at least five groups of elements,each element bearing an incomplete non-indicative character, theelements ,of one group being adapted to be joined laterally withelements of the other groups to produce complete indicative characters,three of said groups comprising respectively elements which alwaysoccupy initial, medial and nal positions in the formation of a completecharacter, and the two remaining groups comprising respectively elementswhich occupy an initial or a medial position and a medial or a finalposition in the formation of a complete character.

2. A type arrangement for composing machines comprising a plurality ofmatrices, each of which is formed with a portion of a letter only, sothat several of the matrices must be placed together to form a completeundistorted letter, some of said elements being formed with variouslypositioned vowel symbols.

3. A type arrangement for composing machines adapted for use inconnection with Oriental scripts, comprising a group of meaninglessletter.l

elements which when aligned on a line-composing or single-type castingmachine in group assembly of two or three, form the character of anundistorted condensed or extended consonant without a vowel, with anyrequired vowel, or with. vowels above, in the center, or below theconsonant letter or in any combination of these positions.

4. A type arrangement for composing or casting machines adapted for usein connection with Oriental scripts, comprising a group of letterelements consisting of independently meaningless divisions of letterswith vowels in diierent positions, said letter elements being so shapedthat they are adapted for selective interchangeable use in groups toform different complete undistorted letters with vowels.

5. A matrix font for slug casting machines adapted for use in connectionwith Oriental scripts, comprising a series of matrices provided with anoriginal and unique meaningless character, two or three of which incombination yield when assembled, an undistorted consonant with orwithout a vowel or combination of vowels in one or more positions.

6. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line and each bearing adifferent incomplete non-indicative character, said characters beingformed for lateral connection with one another in differentcombinations, by the line assembly of the appropriate elements, toproduce a greater number of diiTerent complete indicative characters.

'7. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted t-o be assembled side by side in line and each bearinga different incomplete non-indicative character, said characters beingformed for lateral connection with one another in dilerent combinations,by the line assembly of the appropriate elements in twos or threes, toproduce a greater number of different complete indicative characters.

8. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line, said elementseach bearing a different incomplete non-indicative character, some ofsaid characters being initialposition characters and othersfinal-position characters, said initial-position and iinal-positioncharacters being formed for lateral connection with each other, by theline assembly of the appropriate pairs of elements, to produceselectively a number of complete indicative characters in excess of thetotal number of incomplete nonindicative characters.

9. Atypographical font comprising a series of free disconnected elements,adapted `to be as sembled sidel by side in line, said elements each`acters, and still others nal-position characters,

said characters of the' different kinds being formed for lateralconnection with one another, by the line assembly of the appropriateelements in twos or threes, to produce selectively a` nurnber ofcomplete indicative characters in excess of the` total number ofincomplete non-indicative characters.

l0. A typographical font according to claim 9, characterized by the factthat some of` the medialposition characters are also usable `asinitial-position characters in the -production of certain completeindicativeA characters.

11'. A` typographical font according to claim 9, characterized by thefact that some of the medialposition characters are also usable asfinal-positioncharacters in the production of certain completeindicative characters.

12. A typographical font comprising a series of. free disconnectedelementsV adapted to be assembled side by side inline and each bearing adifferent incomplete character, some of said characters constitutingconsonant parts with and other of said characters constituting consonantf parts without vowel or like symbols, said characters being formed forlateral connection with one another in different combinations, by theline assembly of the appropriate elements, to produce selectivelyvarious whole consonants with vowel or like symbols.

. 13. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line and each bearingra different incomplete character, some of said characters constitutingconsonant parts with and other of said characters constituting consonantparts without vowel or like symbols, said characters being formed forlateral connection with one another in diierent combinations, by theline assembly of the appropriate elements, to produce selectivelyvarious whole consonants with or without vowel or like symbols.

14. A typographical font according to claim 12, characterized by thefact that some of. the characters constituting consonant parts withvowel or like symbols are used as iinal-position characters in theproduction of certain whole consonants with vowel or like symbols.

15. A typographical font according to claim 12, characterized by thefact that some ofthe characters constituting consonant parts with vowelor like symbols are used conjunctively to produce certain wholeconsonants with vowel or like symbols.

16. A typographical font comprising a series oi free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line and each bearingan incomplete character, some of said characters when standing alonebeing indicative and others when standing alone being non-indicative,the indicative characters constituting consonant parts without vowel orlike symbols, and the nonindicative characters constituting consonantparts with and without vowel or like symbols, the non-indicativecharacters being formed for lateral connection with the indicativecharacters in different combinations, by the line as assembly of theappropriate elements, to produce selectively varivous completeindicative characters constituting whole consonants with vowel or likesymbols. 17. A typographical font comprising a series of freedisconnected elements adapted to be assembled side by side in line andeach bearing an incomplete character, some of. said characters whenstanding alone being indicative and others when standing alonebeingnon-indicative, the indicative characters `parts with and without vowelor like symbols, and the non-indicative characters constitutingconsonant parts with and without vowel or like symbols, thenon-indicative characters being formed constituting consonant forlateral connection with the indicative characters in diiierentcombinations, by the line assembly of the appropriate elements, toproduce selectively various complete indicative characters constitutingwhole consonants with vowel or like symbols.

18. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line and each bearingan incomplete character, some of said characters when standing alonebeing indicative and others i when standing alone being non-indicative,the indicative characters constituting consonant `parts without vowel orlike symbols, and the nonindicative character constituting consonantparts with and without vowel or like symbols, said nonindicativecharacters being formed for lateral connection with one'another indifferent combinations or with the indicative characters in differentcombinations, by the line assembly of the appropriate elements, toproduce selectively various complete indicative characters constitutingwhole consonants with vowel or like symbols.

19. A typographical font comprising a series of free disconnectedelements adapted to be assembled side by side in line and each bearingan incomplete character, some of said characters when standing alonebeing indicative and others when standing alone being non-indicative,the indicative characters constituting consonant parts Without vowel orlike symbols, and the nonindicative characters constituting consonantparts with and without vowel or like'symbols, said non-indicativecharacters being formed for lateral connection with the indicativecharacters in different combinations, by the line assembly of theappropriate elements, to produce selectively various complete indicativecharacters constituting whole consonants with or without vowel or likesymbols, and said non-indicative characters being also formed forlateral connection with one another in different combinations, by theline assembly of the appropriate elements, to produce selectivelyvarious other complete indicative characters constituting wholeconsonants with or without vowel or like symbols.

20. A typographical font according to claim 19, characterized by thefact that some of the incomplete indicative characters constitutingconsonant parts with vowel or likesyrnbols are formed for lateralconnection with some of the incomplete non-indicative charactersconstituting consonant parts with vowel or like symbols, the resultingcomplete indicative characters constituting whole consonants with vowelor like symbols differing from those whole consonants with vo-wel orlike symbols produced by the incomplete characterswhen useddisjunctively.

2l. A typographical font for Devanagari and similar scripts comprising aseries of free disconnected elements adapted to be assembled side byside in line and each bearing a different incomplete character, saidcharacters being formed for lateral connection with one another indifferent combinations, by the line assembly of the appropriateelements, to produce selectively various complete characters ofundistorted orthodox form constituting whole consonants with or withoutvowel or like symbols.

22. A typographical font for Devanagari and 10 similar scriptscomprising a series of free disconnected elements adapted to beassembled side by side in line and each bearing a diierent incompletecharacter, said characters being formed for lateral connection with oneanother in different combinations, by the line assembly of theappropriate elements, to produce selectively various complete charactersof undistorted orthodox form constituting whole independent vowels asWell as whole consonants with or without vowel or like symbols.

23. A typographical font according to claim 21, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group A of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to Various complete characters.

24. A typographical font according to claim 22, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group B of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to various complete characters.

25. A typographical font according to claim 22, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group C of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to various complete characters.

26. A typographical font according to claim 22, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group D of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to various cornplete characters.

27. A typographical font according to claim 21, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group E of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to various complete characters.

28. A typographical font according to claim 22, wherein some of theincomplete characters are those constituting Group F of Fig. 1 of thedrawings, each of which is common to various complete characters. Y

29. A typographical font according to claim 22, wherein the variousincomplete characters are those constituting Groups A, B, C, D, E, and Fof Fig. 1 of the drawings, each of which is common to various completecharacters.

HARI G. GOVIL.

